Public and private pensions: lessons from the crisis

This Policy Brief considers the lessons to be drawn from the crisis for both public and private pensions in Europe. The author, Agnes Streissler, points out that both pay-as-you-go and funded systems are dependent on economic growth and are under pressure because of demographic changes. At the same time, private systems are considerably more risky in terms of the entitlements of successive cohorts leaving the labour market.

Read this article from ETUI here.

Lutte contre la pauvreté, rapport 2008-2009

Lisez le rapport du Service de Lutte contre la Pauvreté, la Précarité et l'Exclusion sociale en FR ou en NL .

Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index

The Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index is a new initiative to compare pension systems around the world. Retirement income systems perform a critical role for both individuals and societies as countries grapple with the social and economic effects of ageing populations. There is no perfect system that can be applied universally around the world. Indeed, even comparing the diversity of retirement income systems is certain to be controversial as every system is different and has arisen from each country’s particular economic, social, cultural, political and historical circumstances. However there are certain features and characteristics of retirement income systems that are likely to lead to improved benefits, an increased likelihood of future sustainability of the system, and a greater level of confidence and trust within the community.

Read the full report here.

European competitiveness report 2009

The 2009 edition of the European Competitiveness Report looks at the possible implications of the economic downturn; in particular for productivity and for some of the determinants of future EU competitiveness: the evolution of the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China); the role of high-skilled migration; the extent and conditions under which training can boost productivity; and the role of product and labour market regulations in influencing ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) investment.

Read the complete report here.

‘Tobin-taks? Een verschrikkelijk idee!’

Kapitaalmarktenlobby ICMA: ‘Taks op financiële transacties nefast voor marktwerking’ ‘Europa staat verder dan VS in macro-prudentieel toezicht’. Lees het volledige artikel in De Tijd hier.

Beleid tegen werkloosheid mist globale visie

De ruzie tussen de Vlaamse en de federale regering over het banenplan van minister van Werk Joëlle Milquet (cdH) is bijgelegd. Politiek heeft iedereen zijn slag thuisgehaald. De grote vraag is of er ook sociaal-economisch echte vooruitgang is geboekt. Lees het volledige opiniestuk van Freddy Heylen hier.

‘Wat we verloren hebben in de crisis dreigen we nooit meer in te halen’

Caroline Ven, kabinetschef premier Yves Leterme, en adjunct-directeur CD&V Niko Gobbin luiden de alarmbel in hun boek ‘De welvaartsval’. Lees het volledige interview in De Tijd hier.

Innovating indicators: choosing the right targets for EU2020

Read the complete article here.

Voorzorgsprincipe blijft iets absurds hebben

Het ‘voorzorgsprincipe’ schraagt al twee decennia politieke beslissingen omdat wetenschappelijke zekerheid ontbreekt. Je afvragen wat er mis mee is, lijkt op ketterij en het intrappen van open deuren. Onaanvaardbare rampen die op ons af lijken te komen, vergen toch buitengewone tegenmaatregelen? Maar klimaatmodellen zijn geen voorspellingen, en dus nemen we beter ook dat voorzorgsprincipe met een flinke korrel zout. Lees het volledige opiniestuk van Freeman Dyson in De Tijd hier.

Paul A. Samuelson, Economist, Dies at 94

That lesson was reinforced in 2008, when the international economy slipped into the steepest downturn since the Great Depression, when Keynesian economics was born. When the Depression began, governments stood pat or made matters worse by trying to balance fiscal budgets and erecting trade barriers. But 80 years later, having absorbed the Keynesian teaching of Mr. Samuelson and his followers, most industrialized countries took corrective action, raising government spending, cutting taxes, keeping exports and imports flowing and driving short-term interest rates to near zero. Read the complete article on Samuelson's life and work in the NYTimes here.

Les technologies vertes juste derrière l’automobile ?

Les technologies vertes, que la Chine développe à grand pas, sont en passe de devenir le troisième secteur industriel mondial d’ici 2020, derrière l’automobile et l’électronique, selon une étude publiée par le Fonds mondial pour la nature (WWF).

Lisez l'article dans Le Soir ici.

Lisez le rapport du WWF "Clean Economy, Living Planet" ici.

Le désordre financier menace la reprise économique

La quasi-faillite de l'émirat de Dubaï, la grave dérive budgétaire de la Grèce, les craintes grandissantes sur la situation de l'Espagne, de l'Irlande et du Portugal, ainsi que la très mauvaise santé des pays baltes font redouter l'existence de bombes à retardement dans les comptes des Etats et les bilans des banques.

Lisez l'article complet dans Le Monde ici.

Greek Debt Poses a Danger to Common Currency

As economic indicators have improved, concern about the financial crisis has abated. But the next big problem could be approaching. Greece's public deficit is skyrocketing and the country may become insolvent. The effect on Europe's common currency could be dire. Read the complete article in Der Spiegel International Edition here.

Falling Dollar Pushes Manufacturing Out of Europe

Production jobs have been moving out of Europe for years. But as the Daimler decision last week to move C-Class production to the US shows, the process is accelerating as the dollar becomes weaker. Companies from Airbus to ThyssenKrupp are opening factories in America to improve their bottom lines. Read the complete article in Der Spiegel International here.

Islam and Switzerland: The return of the nativists

Read the complete article in The Economist here.

A Chinese wind-power IPO

CHINA’S biggest producer of wind power, China Longyuan Power, is in essence a staid regulated utility. It buys turbines, erects them and sells the electricity they generate to China’s power distributors at prices fixed by the state. So why is its initial public offering next week on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange generating such excitement? Read the complete article in The Economist here.

Keynes in reverse

As more states resemble California, they threaten economic recovery. Read the complete article in The Economist here.

The Non-Public Option

Read the NYTimes' editorial here.

China’s Economic Power Unsettles the Neighbors

China has long claimed to be just another developing nation, even as its economic power far outstripped that of any other emerging country. Now, it is finding it harder to cast itself as a friendly alternative to an imperious American superpower. For many in Asia, it is the new colossus. Read the complete article in the NYTimes here.

For Global Finance, Global Regulation

Europe led the way last year in facing down the global financial crisis, restructuring our banking system and strengthening the global financial system. The European Union was also at the forefront in calling for a new forum for economic cooperation of G-20 leaders. And from the outset of the crisis, it was Europe that promoted the fiscal stimulus—and sought to coordinate it globally—that has been a major factor in preventing recession becoming a world-wide depression. Read the complete opinion piece of Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy here.

A border tax to protect the global environment?

The costs and benefits of carbon tariffs have been extensively discussed in terms of competitiveness and carbon leakage. This column says global welfare should be the focus. EU tariffs against developing country exports would increase global welfare and the proceeds from the tariff could help poorer exporting countries reduce the carbon intensity of their economies.

Read the article from D. Gros on Vox.eu here.

Kick-starting the green innovation machine

Mitigating climate change while maintaining economic growth will require a wide portfolio of technologies. This column says too little has been done to turn on the “green innovation machine”. It says governments in developed economies should price carbon, subsidise research, and facilitate technology transfer to developing countries.

Read the article from P. Aghion on Vox eu here.

The Skyscraper Index

Could it be that the building of record breaking Skyscrapers could be used as a tool to predict the onset of economic downturn? Read the complete article in ultranomics here.

Long-term unemployment at historic height in the US

Read the complete CBPP Statement here.

The number of people who have been unemployed for 27 weeks or more continued to climb in November, and these long-term unemployed now are nearly 40 percent of total unemployment (see chart). Renewing the temporary assistance for unemployed workers scheduled to expire in less than a month and providing additional federal fiscal assistance to states remain at the top of the list of measures that policymakers should take to help jobless workers and speed the economic recovery.

The Belgian climate top!

The complete WSJ environment report

HERE

Questions for Home Buyers
Here are 10 questions that prospective buyers or renters ought to ask to find out how green a house or apartment is

Courting Change
Environmental groups in China now have the ability to sue polluters. But will they?Keeping It

Frozen
In Alaska, a low-tech solution helps the ground stay cold enough, for now.

What Global Warming?
Look at the arguments the skeptics make—and how believers respond.#

What's New
The latest on alternative-energy deals from Dow Jones Clean Technology Insight

In Search of Net Zero
The National Renewal Energy Laboratory wants to be the greenest commercial building in the country. Here's how.

Who Wants What in Copenhagen
Each country coming to Copenhagen has its own agenda. Here's why an agreement is so difficult.

Reach For the Sky
Scientists in Delft believe that clouds hold the key to unlocking predictions about climate change.

An Affordable Truth

"The truth, however, is that cutting greenhouse gas emissions is affordable as well as essential. Serious studies say that we can achieve sharp reductions in emissions with only a small impact on the economy’s growth. And the depressed economy is no reason to wait — on the contrary, an agreement in Copenhagen would probably help the economy recover.
[...]
The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that by 2050 the emissions limits in recent proposed legislation would reduce real G.D.P. by between 1 percent and 3.5 percent from what it would otherwise have been. If we split the difference, that says that emissions limits would slow the economy’s annual growth over the next 40 years by around one-twentieth of a percentage point — from 2.37 percent to 2.32 percent".
Read Krugman's piece in the NYTimes here.

The oil price and the macroeconomy: What’s going on?

In the 1970s, large increases in the price of oil were associated with sharp decreases in output and large increases in inflation. In the 2000s, even larger increases in the price of oil were associated with much milder movements. This column attributes the difference in the US to more flexible labour markets and more credible monetary policy during the Great Moderation.

Read the article from O. Blanchard on Vox.eu here.

Why a cap-and-trade system can be bad for your health

The purpose of a cap-and-trade system is to help in the fight against global climate change. This column warns that a unilateral approach could increase global emissions by shifting production to more carbon-intensive methods abroad. Acting alone, the EU’s Emission Trading Scheme may be doing more harm than good.

Read the article from D. Gros on Vox.eu here.

Qui pollue le plus?

Selon le Programme de l'ONU pour le développement (PNUD), moins de 3% des Burundais ou des Tchadiens ont le courant et 13% à peine en Birmanie ou en Afghanistan.

Lisez l'article dans LLB ici.

Arbeidsmarkt maakt herstel kwetsbaar

Er komt een economisch herstel in 2010, maar er zijn factoren die dat prille herstel de kop in kunnen duwen. Dat is de boodschap die Anton Brender, hoofdeconoom van de vermogensbeheerder Dexia Asset Management, meegaf tijdens de voorstelling van zijn vooruitzichten voor volgend jaar. Onder andere een verdere stijging van de euro en een kwetsbare arbeidsmarkt zijn factoren die een rem kunnen vormen. Lees het volledige artikel in De Tijd hier.

Obama Can Win in Afghanistan

Read Karl Rove's opinion piece in the WSJ here.

Reform or Else

Health care reform hangs in the balance. Its fate rests with a handful of “centrist” senators — senators who claim to be mainly worried about whether the proposed legislation is fiscally responsible. Read Krugman's column in the NYTimes here.

Bernanke Says Fed ‘Should Have Done More’

Under fire from Democrats and Republicans alike, Ben S. Bernanke on Thursday defended his record as chairman of the Federal Reserve but conceded that the central bank’s lapses contributed to the financial crisis. Read the complete article in the NYTimes here.

Quel Etat pour quelles performances économiques?

La crise financière a relancé le débat sur le rôle de l'Etat dans le système économique, et cela sous l’angle tant de la gestion de situations d'urgence que de la politique industrielle. Le XVIIIe Congrès des Economistes belges de langue française a apporté sa contribution au débat. Il est logique que l’accent des contributions ait été mis sur les défis, sur les faiblesses et sur les manquements. Ceci ne doit toutefois pas masquer les atouts de nos régions et les progrès observés dans différents domaines de l’intervention publique. Du domaine de la formation à la qualité des modes d’organisation de la vie économique, l’accent placé ici sur la politique économique ne doit pas faire oublier que la responsabilité qui est engagée n’est pas uniquement celle des hommes et des femmes politiques mais bien celle de chacun.

Consultez le rapport ici.

Marx, Bayer en de bonden

Lonen bevriezen is niet leuk, maar de werknemers in de chemiesector behoren tot de best betaalde groep in ons land. En dat van dat langer werken is ook een beetje een apart geval, aangezien een werkweek bij Bayer er al na 33,6 uur op zit. Het voorstel is nu om 35,2 uur per week te presteren. Stel u voor. De vakbonden noemen dat onbespreekbaar. Ik noem dat onvoorstelbaar. Lees de volledige column van Lorin Parys in De Standaard hier.

Europe Bypassed on Climate Summit

No political entity has pushed harder for the Copenhagen conference on climate change to succeed than the European Union. But just days before the opening of the United Nations-sponsored meeting, the Europeans have been largely pushed to the sidelines, watching as the world's two largest emitters of greenhouse gases, China and the United States, seek to set the rules of the game. Read the complete article in The NYTimes here.

The Call From the Swiss Minaret

Read the complete opinion piece from Claudio Cordone, senior director of Amnesty International, in The NYTimes here.

A Vote for Intolerance

Disgraceful. That is the only way to describe the success of a right-wing initiative to ban the construction of minarets in Switzerland, where 57 percent of voters cast ballots for a bigoted and mean-spirited measure. Read the complete editorial of The NYTimes here.

Les éoliennes les plus puissantes de la planète sont belges

Les éoliennes les plus puissantes de la planète (6 MW chacune) sont implantées à Estinnes-au-Mont, près de Binche. Propriété de la société belgo-néerlandaise WindVision, ces machines de fabrication allemande (Enercon) affichent des dimensions colossales : 198 mètres jusqu'à la pointe de la pale et un diamètre de 127 mètres !

Lisez l'article dans Le Vif ici.